Controlling Print? Burton, Bastwick and Prynne and the Politics of Memory
Open Access
Author:
Reese, Christine
Graduate Program:
History
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
September 19, 2007
Committee Members:
A Gregg Roeber, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Laura Lunger Knoppers, Committee Member Daniel Chapin Beaver, Committee Member Mrinalini Sinha, Committee Member
Keywords:
John Bastwick William Prynne Star Chamber Stuart England seventeenth-century print Henry Burton
Abstract:
This dissertation examines the 1637 Star Chamber trial of Henry Burton, John Bastwick and William Prynne in the context of the print contests of the seventeenth century. Through a close study of pamphlet literature, it argues that the three men played key roles in a print revolution even as they, like their opponents, proved powerless to control the medium. The story of Burton, Bastwick and Prynne is not so much one of “progress,” but of a dynamic and conflicting process of shaping memory through print and propaganda. Furthermore, looking at how print was used by the trio and their opponents, like William Laud, challenges revisionist views of a unified, dangerous extreme Puritanism. This study takes a step back from both Whig and revisionist interpretations of Burton, Bastwick and Prynne to explore how both views have their roots in the seventeenth-century print contest. Their efforts to shape memory through print help to highlight the political power of print in Stuart England.
